Blessed Beyond Measure

I went to bed feeling blessed and woke up feeling even more blessed. I feel blessed for many reasons but the 2 that are consuming my thoughts today are our son and "wealth". You know, people tell me I'm a good mom and I appreciate the compliment. But quite honestly, I'm just being the kind of mom my mom was to me and my brother. The compliments that mean the most are when people mention how well behaved P is or how friendly he is. Today he received both compliments. I met with our former school secretary about a cancer fundraiser that I'll be putting on to help local kids with cancer. While there she was amazed at how much P had grown since she'd last seen him. She was also amazed at how well he behaved while she and I were talking and how affectionate he was with her. At gymnastics, he did pretty good and even had his coach and me in stitches during the trampoline workout. She commented on his fun personality. At the grocery store the clerk secretly pushed the conveyor belt button, making P think he had done it. She was getting a kick out of his enthusiasm and mentioned that he had a fun personality as well. Hearing all these things made me feel even more blessed. Yes, the twos and threes are hard but lately we've had many more good days than bad. He makes me laugh several times a day and we thoroughly enjoy hanging out together.
The other reason I'm feeling blessed is because we, as individuals and as a family, have so much. We don't need anything and there are very few things we want for. When the holiday season approaches I realize how much we have compared to others. We have a nice house in a beautiful area, a healthy family, good food on the table, newer cars, more clothes than we know what to do with.... I understand that people in our community and all around the world aren't as blessed. That's why I like to "adopt" people around the holidays. To me, Christmas is not about getting but giving. If P never receives another Christmas present, but learns the importance of giving back I will be happy. We are donating most of his Halloween candy to troops overseas. We are also participating in Operation Christmas Child where we give to a child in another part of the world that doesn't have much. Depending on the troop status, we may send a box to a soldier for Christmas or we may adopt a local child through my school to provide for. To me, this is way more important than the presents with my name on them under the tree Christmas morning. If you have a little extra to give and would like to adopt a child or soldier for Christmas, please let me know and I'd be happy to make that happen. Feeling blessed is a good thing. Doing something about it is even better!